Few scholars agree on much, but none would deny our world of Ithica has a past studded with noteworthy events, the happenings that form the very substance of history. Whether it be the rise of the great conqueror Veren in the West, or the campaigns of the Goblin general Mastix in the East, the one other thing none dispute is that those seminal events are often as grisly as they are influential. Our history is, bluntly, a history of bloodshed.

It should come as no surprise then, that we find ourselves on the very brink of making history. Some would trace the origins of our current situation to the events of some centuries ago when the human nations of the western continent took up the sword and began to push east, ending the blissful isolation of countless indigenous species. Many cite the plunder of that early conquest as the force that drove the innovation of the last century, others say the cultural exchange brought novel ideas to skilled engineers, the truth is it doesn't matter. As the powers of the west raped the east they used whatever they took, physical or cultural, to drive an industrial effort in preparation for the fight that all knew was on the horizon.

We saw the first hints of that imminent and defining conflict twenty years past, when the Verenjost parliament, a loose confederation that ostensibly governed the Rozdelenic nations, collapsed in the face of a civil war. The military regime which took its place, nearly uniting Verens old empire in the doing, almost immediately came into conflict with the southern nation of Irdkraal. Northern Sorace, having just annexed nearly half of neighbouring Bawelna, leveraged its bloated military to prevent the powerful New Rozdeleny Regime from growing beyond control.

The intervention stopped the Regimes advance and slowly forced the first war of the modern era into an uneasy ceasefire. It will not last. In the years since its historical ally Bawelna barely staved off total defeat while it stood paralysed and unable to help the Confederation of the Ruére has nearly doubled the size of its army, its position between Sorace, the Regime, and Irdkraal making its all inevitable involvement in the conflict its neighbours are embroiled in a deciding moment that the world has held its breath anticipating for over a decade.

Of course, the east should not so easily be forgotten. The old Eleven Rhaetian Empire has for the first time in memory begun to open its doors, recruiting military advisers from across the world. Above it the Goblins find themselves at last in a position to repel the foreigners that have encroached on their lands for far too long.

As the world circles towards a confrontation the lies of which has only ever been hinted at all will be forced to take a side. The Regimes historical enemies in Aberys, Irdkraal, and Sorace form an axis to resist it while the burgeoning revival of Verens empire secures allies in Bawelna and Kolbara; both sides also look to secure allies in the Ruére basin, along the north coast, and in the mysterious east.